Sebelius described the HealthCare.gov user experience as “miserably frustrating.”

“You deserve better,” she said. “I apologize.”

Sebelius is the public face of the bungled ObamaCare rollout, and she has heard calls from dozens of Republican for her to resign.

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The secretary has been defiant, saying she works for President Obama and not the GOP.

But on Wednesday, Sebelius adopted a conciliatory tone. The apology she made was not in the prepared remarks that were posted Tuesday on the House Energy and Commerce Committee’s website.

Upon her entrance to the hearing room, Sebelius walked up to the panel and shook hands with many of her critics, including Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.), who had said Sebelius’s testimony will be her last act as secretary before she’s “out the door.”

“Hold me accountable for the debacle,” she later said under intense questioning from Blackburn. “I’m responsible.”